"But it ain't hard to tell who got the better of who, 'cause in the morning light I'm hard to recognize, yeah Jack Daniels kicked my ass again last night..."


The throbbing in Cassidy’s head was unbearable; like every heartbeat was an explosion through her brain, stabbing and harassing it. She rolled onto her back, covering her eyes with her hand, grimacing as the sound of the water splashing against the tile in the shower seemed louder than usual. It was even painful to move, as though flu-like symptoms had washed over her body, plaguing her muscles with soreness.

She wanted to cry and feel pity for herself. It was the first time she’d ever been completely drunk, and with the way she felt, she couldn’t understand why college students liked to party so much. The drinking wasn’t worth this pain.

Forcing herself to open her eyes, Cassidy looked up at Jamie, who was now beside the bed with a towel hung around his hips, thrusting a glass of water and two ibuprofen at her. She obediently took it from him, swallowing the pills and groaned as she lie her head back on the pillow.

“You made a new friend last night,” Jamie chuckled, walking back into the bathroom. He sprayed some shaving cream onto his fingertips and spread it over his cheeks and chin. “His name was Jack Daniels.” He wet his razor and slid it down his cheek carefully.

“I feel like absolute shit… Wait, why are you in here? My dad’s going to die if he finds you in here.” Her voice was low, trying to keep her head of ringing.

Jamie rinsed out his razor, making a funny face as he shaved his upper lip, getting rid of any trace of a moustache. “I told him I wanted to make sure you didn’t die. We were both kind of afraid you’d choke on your own vomit.”

“I puked last night?!”

He shook his head before moving the razor to his neck, again moving slowly to ensure he didn’t nick himself. “I didn’t know what you’d do. I’d never seen you drunk before. But you’re alive, we got to cuddle all night, albeit to make sure you stayed on your side, and my birthday is in two days and I get to spend it with you.”

Cassidy finally sat up, swaying side to side as dizziness consumed her. Once she had her bearings, she peeked through tightly squinted eyelids, groaning as Jamie patted his face with a hand towel and walked back into the bedroom.

“Speaking of which, if this unbearable pain ever goes away, I’ve planned a little getaway for your birthday.” When she saw his eyes flash wider, she waved him off, “nothing big. Just so we can have a little… time together.”

Jamie walked to the bed, humming through his lips as he leaned over Cassidy, shoulder muscles flexing as he kissed her gently. It was like the feeling of his lips on her made her headache disappear. Or it could have been the ibuprofen kicking in. Either way, she didn’t want the feeling of relief to end.

But that was all short lived, as by the time Cassidy and Jamie entered the living room, Lee shot his daughter a questioning look. She tried to dismiss his judging glance, but it was useless.

“Looked like you had fun last night, Cass.” His remark was quick as he sipped his morning coffee, looking over the newspaper.

Cassidy plopped down on the couch with Jamie beside her. What could she say? She knew she probably looked like a fool last night. “It wasn’t my brightest moment.”

With the increasingly judging look on his face, she couldn’t wait to be out of the house the next day. Although she and Jamie wouldn’t be going far for his birthday trip, she was just excited to have some alone time with him. In fact, it wasn’t even out of Nashville.

Piling into her dad’s SUV two days later, Cassidy smiled when Jamie looked utterly confused when she parked the car only after a twenty-minute drive. From the parking lot, he couldn’t exactly tell where she had taken him. And he was only able to figure it out, when they got out of the car, and Cassidy hoisted his golf bag out of the trunk.

“Apparently it’s the best golf course in Tennessee. My dad knows people who are members here, and they got us in.”

Jamie smiled and took his golf bag from Cassidy, hooking it over his shoulder and cupped her face with one of his hands, leaning in to kiss her gently. “You’re amazing. Spending a weekend at a golf course… do you even know how to golf?”

Cassidy giggled and shook her head, “one of my dad’s friends is setting me up with clubs, but I figured I’d just look cute in a little skirt, teasing you while I putt… or whatever.”

He rolled his eyes and reached for her hand, walking into the country club like it was the most natural thing in the world. And once inside, they were treated like royalty, being greeted by several people who not only knew Jamie’s name, but Cassidy’s as well. They were being handed paperwork and keys, and not even ten minutes after entering, their bags were being carried off by a caddy, and set on the back of a white golf cart.

Cassidy slid into the passenger side, admiring Jamie as his arm muscles flexed as he turned the key in the ignition, looking over his shoulder before driving away to the first location. Although the golf cart didn’t go over twenty miles and hour, Jamie opted to go slower than that, taking his time. Cassidy wrapped her arms around Jamie’s bicep, cuddling into him. He reciprocated by moving his hand off the steering wheel, and tucking in between her legs, rubbing his thumb along her thigh soothingly.

“I have a feeling this is going to be the best birthday I’ve ever had,” he glance down at her quickly, returning his gaze to the road as he stopped, and looked to his left, seeing the tee spot. “I love you,”

She blushed and ran her fingertips through his hair gently, smiling as he urged her out of the cart. Her lack of coordination would probably leave her looking more crazy than sexy. And in the interest of keeping him attracted her, she opted to be his cheerleader instead of actually taking part in playing.

As the day wore on, it got progressively harder and harder to seem amused with the game. Golf was not a sport that was easy to enjoy, for Cassidy at least. And when they got to the eighteenth hole a few hours later, the only pleasure she found was in driving the cart, going as fast as possible.

---

When they arrived at the hotel just outside of Nashville in the late evening, both only had one thing on their minds. Dinner had ended with a playful argument concerning the bill, which Jamie grabbed as soon as the waiter set it on the table. Despite it being his birthday, he didn’t want Cassidy picking up the tab, and insisted on paying for it.

So she hadn’t intended on that, but when they got into the hotel room, which she grinned at the fact that she had already paid for, no time was wasted in entangling in each other’s arms. She leaned into him, collapsing her body on top of his, enjoying the way his body seemed to envelope hers.

Cassidy pulled away and looked up into his eyes, dragging her fingertips over his dress shirt, outlining the shape of his shoulder, “there’s champagne by the bed. Pour some… and I’m going to go to the bathroom,” She murmured, reaching up to peck his lower lip, trying to be as sexy as possible, while her mind was telling her to stop making a fool out of herself.

“That’s really sexy, Cassidy…” Jamie mocked, smiling against her lips. “Go take a dump before we have sex,” he giggled at his joke.

Cassidy felt her cheeks go hot, knowing they were now a deep shade of red, and she shook her head, “I didn’t mean it like that…” she tried to explain.

“Go,” he smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear, “the champagne will be ready when you get done doing whatever you’re gonna do in there,”

“Jamie,” she whined out, embarrassed. When she turned away from him, he smacked her ass playfully, and she looked back, half smiling, half pouting, “you know it’s really too soon in our relationship to be comfortable talking about shit with each other.”

He laughed loudly, and she shut the bathroom door behind her, just as Jamie popped open the champagne. It took a few minutes for her to get changed, mostly because she nearly tripped over her own feet, resulting in her hand slamming against the marble sink. Apparently Jamie heard it too, and immediately asked if she was all right. Cassidy shut her eyes, embarrassed again, and then stared at herself in the mirror. Get it together. You’re Cassidy Knox.

She opened the bathroom door, and stepped back out into the hotel room, looking at Jamie as he sat on the edge of the bed with two champagne glasses in his hands. Upon seeing her getup, he reached to set the glasses down on the side table, but Cassidy stopped him, taking one of the glasses, and downed the bubbly liquid as quickly as she could. She was a nervous wreck.

But Jamie set the other glass down before he reached for Cassidy, admiring her body beneath the black, lace bra, matched with the lacy thong and garters around her thighs. He hadn’t ever seen her this way; usually she looked angelic in the lingerie she’d worn before, even if it was Kennedy’s. But now, with this new setup, she looked… kinky.

“I love this present,” he forced himself to look up into her eyes, immediately smiling as he noticed her cheeks were still pink.

“I got it in California. Is it okay,” she looked down at herself, feeling a twinge of regret now. Once again, her mind was leading her to worst-case scenarios.

“Okay? I’m almost don’t even want to take it off of you. You look sexy as hell.” He wrapped his strong arms around her waist, pulling her into him.

Standing in between his legs, Cassidy looked down as he pressed his lips against her chest, while his hands explored her hips, navigating over the thin fabric and down her legs to touch the garters. She kneeled on the bed, her knees on either side of his hips and she pressed forward to ease him to lie flat along the bed.

“Happy birthday,” she whispered, bringing one hand to his chest, slowly undoing each button until his shirt separated, exposing his chest.

His response was in the form of a kiss, and a passionate one at that, as he held her still and flipped over on the bed so he could be on top of her. Sitting back on his knees, it was as though he needed to take a moment to revel in the sight of her, before he leaned back in for another kiss, pushing one of the bra straps off her shoulder.

She slipped her hands around to his lower back, pushing his hips down against hers, and in the effort of keeping weight off of her, he laid down beside her, spooning her, as she turned her head to the side, reuniting their lips. Jamie slid his hand beneath her thong, caressing her hip as he held her tightly.

Cassidy turned on her back, draping one of her legs over Jamie’s as he reached for the bottom of her thong, unclipping the garters. She lifted her hips off of the bed, allowing him the chance to pull off her thong. He then moved his lips back to her neck, giving it some attention as he worked with his belt and zipper, eventually getting his pants down to his ankles and getting them off.

His boxer briefs were tented, and Cassidy reached up for the waistband, carefully tugging them past his hips. She let go of the fabric and reached to wrap her hand around his shaft, moving her hand up towards the head of his member, where she could circle her fingers around the tip. Slowly, she guided him to her entrance, and he crawled forward until his hands were pressed into the bed just above her shoulders.

Before she could say much of anything, he thrust into her, earning a breathless moan. She clutched onto his arms, holding herself still as he sunk deeper into her. Jamie bent down to kiss her lips slowly, and she took advantage of the situation, finding comfort in his lips as he began rocking in and out of her, moving faster with each movement.

Cassidy enjoyed the way he felt inside of her, and her muscles contracted around his shaft, trying to hold him still, but he was stronger than her, and continued his thrusting. She sighed against his lips, setting her head against his shoulder, biting into it as he leaned into her ear, sucking on her earlobe gently.

“I love you, Cassidy,” he managed to pant out as he began to pick up speed; the sound of their skin coming together filled the hotel room.

She responded with a loud moan, flinging her head back against the pillow as her body shook each time Jamie pressed into her. And when she could no longer hold back her pleasure, she clung onto Jamie, digging her fingernails into his shoulder like her life depended on it. It was also in that moment that Jamie too reached his own climax, sending Cassidy into an internal battle with herself.

No protection… Get ready for those two pink lines again. You’ll be naming your kid Knox sooner than you thought.

It was then that Jamie wrapped his arm over her hip, kissing her neck as though he were ready for round two. However, Cassidy turned towards him, bra still in tact, and reached down to pull the sheets over her shoulder. She pressed her hands against Jamie’s chest; an indication that for now meant things would stop.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Cassidy shook her head, and tucked her hand around his ear, “it’s just been a long day, and I know it’s your birthday, but I’m just…”

“Okay,” he interrupted, leaning in to kiss her forehead softly. “You’ve made this the best birthday ever. Thank you, for everything.”

Notes

This chapter is titled after "Jack Daniels" by Eric Church.

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